Run and Hide
by Aeris Deathscythe
Summary: Selphie is accused of murder and Squall is the only one who believes she's innocent. Also, why did Seifer leave Garden after becoming a SeeD? Squalphie! Seiftis! Please Read!
1. One for the Money

AN: This is a squalphie. I've been reading some of them, and though most were for a contest and were based on the same elements, the couple intrigues me. I really like Squall with Selphie more than I like him with Rinoa, which surprised me a lot, because usually I favor Selphie with Zell. I really hope you guys will take the time to read this and try out this couple.

Selphie Tilmitt was on a mission. Her first true mission alone, actually. Representative Bailey of Timber had received several death threats lately, and Selphie was working undercover at Timber Maniacs to discover who the culprit was. Selphie's job was to investigate the town for anything suspicious as well as to hack into several different computer databases in order to trace where the threats had been sent from. The letter had been rerouted several times. Bailey had several SeeD bodyguards, all above rank ten, protecting him, so he should be perfectly safe, but it was preferred that the responsible party be caught before he made an attempt on the representative's life. Selphie was trying to do her absolute best on this important mission, and she had several leads. But a lot of the facts seemed to be pointing at the Forest Owls, who, as far as she knew, were no longer active. Also, they would have no reason to be against Bailey, as he had been fighting for all they had ever wanted. It didn't make sense. 

It also didn't take a rocket scientist to know that the threats were most likely coming from a different city, though of course the assassin would come to Timber. All of the cities were in a political war, had been since the defeat of Ultimecia. Esthar wanted it's own Garden, Dollet wanted disarmament, Trabia and Balamb wanted to keep their Gardens but wanted Galbadia disarmed, Galbadia wanted an apology (who knew what they were thinking), and each and every other town and city had their own say in what was going on. And Timber? Timber agreed with Balamb and Trabia. All of this political 'disagreement' had been going on for a year now, and it was driving Squall crazy. 

He was commander of Garden, of course-while Cid lazed away in the rebuilt orphanage with Matron-and he despised politics. Selphie thought, as much as he hated to admit it, that he was very much like Seifer in that respect. They were both true warriors at heart. Seifer had been pardoned, found to be under Ultimecia's control-except for the whole attacking the president thing, of course- and had become a SeeD. And then he had left. Where had he gone? No one knew. As soon as he had become a SeeD he had quit, though technically he wasn't allowed to do such a thing, and no one could say other wise 'cause he had completely vanished. But they knew he was alive, because there were always 'Seifer Sightings', as Selphie liked to call them. And by the time any one could investigate these sightings he had gone again.

Selphie knew that Quistis was sad about this. Whenever Seifer's name was mentioned she would become very quiet, and Selphie was certain that Quistis liked him a lot, though she would never admit it. Quistis had gotten over Squall, which was good because she was best friends with Rinoa now. She had also been reinstated as an instructor. It had been a year and Rinoa and Squall were still a couple, and he had opened up a bit. Everyone was making bets on how long it would be before he popped the question.

Zell was dating the library girl with the pigtail, no big surprise there, and Irvine? He was chasing girls all around Balamb when he wasn't on a mission. He was supposed to be dating Selphie, but since it had taken her a while to agree to see him, and they hadn't technically said they were dating exclusively, he thought it was okay to go out with other girls. Selphie wasn't seeing any other guys, so she had decided that when she got back to Garden she would give him an ultimatum. It was either her and only her, or not her at all. She wasn't even sure she honest to goodness liked him all that much more than a friend. She liked the attention he gave her, no one else gave her any attention (perhaps she was too plain and too short), but she couldn't see the relationship going much further, even if he did stop seeing other girls. She certainly couldn't see herself marrying him, or even, Hyne forbid, _sleeping_ with him just for fun. She wasn't that kind of girl. Selphie was very naïve and childish about such matters and she knew it. But really, was it so childish to wait for the right guy, as well as her wedding night to sleep with someone? There was something so romantic and right about it…

Selphie sighed. Why was she even thinking about such matters? She had to concentrate on the mission at hand, not on her virginity. Sigh. Back to work!

* * *

Squall Leonhart was beyond pissed, beyond upset, but still his blank expression remained, causing both his girlfriend and best friend to wonder if he truly even had emotions. 

Squall had just learned that ten minutes ago, five SeeDs had been brutally murdered, and the man they had been protecting had also been killed in the same violent manner. They had all been shot full of pulse ammo. D*** it!

Squall picked up the intercom and turned it on. "Attention, would Instructor Quistis Trepe please report to my office immediately," he said into it, "Instructor Quistis Trepe to my office now," he repeated, then shut the intercom off and looked to Rinoa and Zell. They were both staring at him nervously, but he still betrayed no emotion. _Some things_, Rinoa thought, _would never change._ Squall would never truly open up to anyone, not even her.

A minute later Quistis was knocking on his door, and with his permission she entered. "Sir," she said, saluting. Squall's eyes twitched as he saluted her back. "At ease. Quistis, you are to go to Timber with Zell and speak with the authorities there. Representative Bailey and the SeeDs that have been guarding him have been killed." Ignoring her shocked expression Squall turned to Zell. "Zell, you are to return with Selphie and she is to report immediately to me, understood?" Zell nodded. "Good. Dismissed."

Both Zell and Quistis saluted, to which he irritatingly did the same, and then they hurriedly left his office. When they were gone, Squall sighed and slumped forward in his seat. Rinoa went to him, placing her hands on his shoulders, massaging his tensed muscles. He relaxed under her touch, but still did not speak. It had been a year, and while he was still considerably more friendly and emotional than he had been, he was still his usual, gloomy, silent self she had first met. While Rinoa did take pride in the fact that he was more open with her than the others, she couldn't ignore the distance between them. 

It had been a whirlwind romance, one that took them both by surprise. She had been naïve and carefree, and he had been mean and depressing. But they had fallen in love with each other. At least, she had fallen in love with him. Sometimes, she admitted, she doubted his feelings towards her. She knew that it had only been an accident that Squall had saved her from falling off of Garden while it was in mid-air, and he had been annoyed with her when he'd saved her from Edea. But he had carried her to Esthar when she'd fallen unconscious, and he'd gone after her in space, then again when she had left him, scared of her powers. And that first kiss… Rinoa smiled at the memory. 

But the whirlwind had died out, plain and simple. Slowly, he'd begun smiling less and less so that she hadn't noticed it at first. But he'd still kiss her and hug her, and she wondered if those emotional acts were just, an act. He'd never spoken the words, either. He'd never said, 'I love you'. When she had finally said the words first, several months after Ultimecia, into his chest while she had hugged him, he had only grumbled something in reply that she hadn't understood. And she hadn't asked him to say it more clearly, and she hadn't said the words again. She was too scared of his reply. Did he love her? She often wondered. He was so distant, so very very distant. She thought that maybe, maybe, they'd never been in love at all. Maybe they had only thought they were. She was so confused. Wasn't love supposed to be sweet? Wasn't love supposed to be wonderful? She had to ask him, she had to know.

"Squall?" Rinoa asked timidly, moving out from behind him so that he could see her more clearly. Squall turned his head to look at her, frowning slightly.

"What is it Rinoa?"

She almost lost her resolve. "Squall, do you-do you love me?" Her words were soft.

Squall continued to look at her, still frowning. Did he love her? "Of course I do," he finally replied, then returned to his papers.

Rinoa took a step back. He'd said yes.

Tears filled her eyes. Another step back.

But he hadn't said the words.

AN: I know this is short; usually my chapters are about four pages long, average, in this font type and size on my comp, but I wanted to see if there would be anyone who would actually read this. There are like maybe six or seven squalphies at the most on this site, so I didn't want to waste my time writing a whole lot to have no interest in it whatsoever. So is there any interest? Should I continue? Let me know! REVIEW! 


	2. Two for the Show

AN: Squalphie lovers unite!!!!!!!! Squalphies for everyone!!!!! Heh, I never made a disclaimer for this…Well I own it! So there! I just don't own the characters or the land of final fantasy eight, which belongs to the nice squaresoft people. But I own this story. evil laughter. So you guys all like squalphies right? I know there are more of you out there, so you better review! waves gunblade wildly

Squall: Hey! That's mine!

Aeris D: Not anymore! MINE!!!!!

                Selphie comes in, looking distraught.

Squall: ignores Aeris What's the matter with you?

Selphie: Someone took all my sugar…..

Aeris D: laughs crazily It was me! I took it! And I'd do it again too!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Chapter Two

                She would never admit it to anyone, but Squall made her nervous. Her, the ever happy, constantly hyper Selphie. And why wouldn't she be? His blue-gray eyes were on her now, and they were void of any trace of emotion as he studied her, silent. It was his hands that gave him away. Glove-less, the long fingers of one smooth hand held a pen that was threatening to snap between his thumb and forefinger. The other lay resting on his desk, fingers wrapped tightly in a fist.

                He was angry. It wasn't hard to tell. But was he mad at her?

                Self-consciously she lifted one foot and adjusted her boot. When she put it down it made no sound on the thick blue carpet that covered the floor. Rinoa had picked it out; saying it matched Squall's eyes. Squall's eyes, were currently on her.

                "Squall?" Selphie asked warily, and she saw his hands relax.

                "Do you know what happened?" He asked in reply. She shook her head. He sighed, feeling slightly guilty. She was fidgeting with her boots again; which she did whenever she was bored or nervous. He wasn't mad at _her_-just the situation in general-but there was a certain degree of apprehension in her emerald green eyes that let him know that she thought he was going to rip her head off and throw it to the dogs.

                "Representative Bailey is dead." Squall paused, waiting for her reaction. He saw her eyes widen in shock and the color of her skin going strikingly pale against the yellow of her dress- shoulders slumping in defeat-as she processed the information. He continued. "The five SeeDs that were guarding him are also dead. At approximately 12:08 P.M. this afternoon, all forty security cameras in Timber's Government building went out simultaneously. Ten minutes later they all came back on. During those ten minutes, someone managed sneak past the guards that were stationed around the building, and murder the Representative and the hired SeeD." Squall stopped speaking as he monitored her response. She was looking at him with wide, confused eyes that threatened to spill with tears any second.

                "Why don't you have a seat, Selphie."

                Unable to do anything else but nod numbly, Selphie took a seat in front of his desk. She couldn't believe it; her first mission alone and she had failed. She had let everyone down by not discovering the identity of the person responsible and now the Representative was dead, and so were the SeeDs… And it was all her fault.

                Without saying anything more, Squall turned the computer that sat on his desk so that it faced her. On the screen were several small thumbnail pictures. Squall clicked on one and it enlarged so that Selphie could see what it was.

                Representative Bailey lay on the plush green carpet, eyes still wide open with the expression of horror that had frozen upon his face as he had died. His clothing was torn in many places, his body pockmarked with giant holes. There was blood everywhere, splattered on his wrinkled face, in his graying hair, and saturating the carpet around him and turning it black as the two complementary colors mixed in gruesome artistry.

                Selphie swallowed, forcing back the vomit that was threatening to surge upwards. She suddenly had a lot more respect for Squall and the job he had to do.

                Deciding that she had seen it long enough, Squall closed the picture and turned the computer back so that it faced him once more. His expression was grim. "Do you recognize the type of weapon that was used?"

                She found herself nodding. Irvine had used the stuff often enough for her to know. "They used pulse ammo…"

                "I'm sure you realize then how difficult it is to obtain that ammunition, as well as to use it. With Irvine it is a part of his limit break, and it can only hit a single target at a time. We can therefore determine that whoever is responsible for this, massacre, was low on health, fast, and very strong. And smart."

                Selphie found her voice. "But there must have been at least two of them, one to hack in and take down security and the other to kill them."

                "Anything is possible, whether it was only one person, or several, but I don't think there were more than three, tops. It was a smooth mission for them. In ten minutes they managed to find the representative, kill him and the five SeeDs protecting him, and get out of the building without anyone being none the wiser."

                Selphie bit her lip. "So…what are we going to do?"

                Squall sighed. "I'm not sure exactly. I was hoping you could help me with that."

                "Me?" She squeaked, and  Squall noted her surprise in amusement. 

"Despite what you expected I did not call you here to demote you, or," he allowed himself the pleasure of smiling slightly, "bite your head off. Any failure on your part was due to the underestimation of the enemy on my own."

                Selphie looked immensely relieved. "So how am I supposed to help you?"

                "You were in Timber, on assignment. I want your last report." Squall sighed. "I want to know what happened down there."

                Selphie frowned, which Squall decided, didn't really suit her at all, even if her constant cheeriness did occasionally get on his nerves. "Gee, I really don't know Squall. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary, and when I traced the letters that were sent, one of them supposedly came from the Forest Owls, which can't be right. They wouldn't do something like that."

                It was Squall's turn to frown. "No, they wouldn't. Or at the very least, it's highly unlikely that they would do so."

                "But," Selphie seemed to hesitate, as if debating whether or not to share her thoughts. There hadn't been anything mysterious, but the people in timber were acting _too_ normal, if that was possible, and it hadn't seemed important then, but now…

                "But what?" Squall asked curiously.

                "The people there…when I questioned them, they seemed a bit _too_ normal, if you know what I mean."

                "_Too_ normal?" Squall repeated quizzically, and Selphie nodded.

                "It was like they were all a bunch of perfect people in a perfect town. It was just really weird. They were all really happy but when I started asking questions they'd change the subject and just smile and laugh and invite me to dinner. And being happy is a good thing but really they were a little _too_ happy if you know what I mean but they weren't drunk or high or anything like that 'cause even I would have figured it out if they were but--."

                Squall lifted his hand and cut her off. "Alright, I get the idea. I'll have Quistis check it out. In the meantime you're officially off-duty. And if we come up with anything I'll let you know. I wouldn't be surprised if you had another mission soon. You're dismissed, Selphie."

                Selphie stood and saluted. "Sir!"

                Squall sighed and saluted back half-heartedly. When she left his office he slumped back in his chair and groaned. Stupid Cid, making him stupid commander….

AN: Hey, so I hope you guys like it. Yes, it's short, but I've been so busy….Anyway, I don't think the paragraphs were too big in the first chapter, were they? Grrrrrrrr….Maybe a little, but not horribly….REVIEW! CLICK THE BUTTON BELOW!

Squall: I'd do it if I were you. She's also taken Selphie's coffee away too…

Selphie: nods sadly I feel like Squall on a happy day…..

REVIEW!!!!!!!!!


End file.
